I suppose, seeing as this is a blog about Canadian politics, I should probably say a few words about the current federal election.

A couple of things: I am not a fan of our current prime minister, Stephen Harper. If I were to apply a political label to myself, I would call myself a “Red Tory”. Of course, there’s currently no Red Tory party in Canadian politics, ever since Preston Manning emasculated the Progressive Conservatives in the early 1990’s. It’s sad, in a way… I would imagine there are an increasing number of people like me, who (in a very broad way) can be considered socially progressive while being economically conservative, yet there is no alternative for this view on the national political level. I want to be able to call myself a conservative, without gaining the label that I’m some crazy Albertan populist.

As my admiration for Arthur Meighen indicates, I feel the most important feature in politics (especially in an election) is leadership. Leaders must have the courage of their convictions and convince the people that they can achieve truly great things. They must be charismatic in order to bring followers to their side. Sadly enough though, there aren’t any great leaders in Canadian politics anymore. How did we go from elections where we had the choice between Macdonald and Mackenzie, or Laurier and Borden, or Meighen and King, or Trudeau and Stanfield, to an election where we have Dion and Harper? Neither of them inspires a terrible amount of confidence. The closest thing we have to a charismatic leader these days is Jack Layton, but the problem is that he, as the leader of the NDP, gets saddled with a lot of the ridiculous and downright dangerous that party tends to generate.

So, what’s going to happen? To be honest, I don’t know. My initial prediction was that the Liberals would claim victory with a razor-thin minority, and the NDP would lose seats. This would be the result of all the leftist voters who want to vote NDP, but want Harper out of office more, voting Liberal. However, even if that were to happen, Harper might not step down and decide to face Parliament (there is a precident that kind of thing, thanks to the illustrious Mackenzie King…) However, now that the election’s being going on for about two weeks, I don’t think that’s going to be the case.

The NDP have been running a very slick campaign. Their whole “let’s completgely ignore the Liberals” strategy is a big gamble, but I think it’s going to pay off for them. Let’s face it, in the past year and half Layton has effectively been the Leader of the Opposition while the Liberals were out wandering in the wilderness (of course, it helps that he could say whatever he wanted, secure in the knowledge that the Liberals wouldn’t bring down the government). Their ads and campaign tours have been surprisingly effective; so, to me at least, it looks like Harper will win another minority government and the NDP will make substantial gains at the expense of the Liberals. It’s still a long way to October 14th, though, and a lot can change.

Dion’s heart is in the right place, but his decision to make his Green Shift platform the central policy is going to cost him the election. As a friend of mine said “It’s one of those policies that you can’t win an election solely on, but you can certainly lose one solely on”. Perhaps losing this election will be the best thing that’s happened to the Liberals in a long time… it will give them the impetus they need to get a new leader who can take advantage of the reorganisation that’s been going on and lead the party out of the wilderness.

It is highly premature to talk about the “collapse” of the Liberal Party as a force in Canadian politics. All political parties go through an intense period of reorganisation after several years in power… look at the Conservatives after Macdonald died in 1891, or the Liberals after Trudeau retired in 1984. They just need some time to get their house in order. And it looks like they’re going to get it.

I recently stumbled across a transcript of an interview with the Honourable Grattan O’Leary, former Canadian Senator and member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery from 1911 to 1925. Mr. O’Leary was a close personal friend of Arthur Meighen, and in the transcript he reminisces about what his friend was like. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in learning more about who Arthur Meighen was and what he was like as a person to head over to the Manitoba Historical Society’s website and give the transcript a read through.

The more I learn about this man, the more I come to admire him. Some may dismiss this as a case of hero worship, but to me there is no denying that Arthur Meighen was a great man. He dominated the political scene in this country for over two decades, yet his name is forgotten to most these days. The fact that he never had the chance to use his incredible personal abilities to do truly great things with this country is one of the great tragedies of Canadian history.

Welcome, one and all to the Helm, a blog in which I espouse my addled and semi-cogent thoughts on politics, the world, and the future. I realise things are a tad sparse here right now, but rest assured that shall all be rectified in time. For the inaugural dispatch from the Helm, however, I am going to explain the name behind this blog and introduce you all to one of the great (yet under appreciated) leaders from Canadian history.

Not many people these days know the name of Arthur Meighen. He was Canada’s ninth Prime Minister, serving twice in the position (July 10, 1920-December 29, 1921 and June 29, 1926-September 25, 1926). For a very through and detailed biography, I highly recommend investigating the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. As anyone who reads this blog shall soon realise, Mr. Meighen is my political idol, and I harbour a great deal of admiration and respect for the man.

I hear you ask, “Why, James? What can we learn from an admittedly obscure figure from Canada’s political past?” There are many reasons I hold Mr. Meighen in such high esteem, but to begin, I feel that he was the exemplar of a trait that is sadly lacking in Canadian politics today: that trait is courage. Arthur Meighen had courage in abundance; he was never afraid to do what was unpopular, if it was necessary. He unfailingly held fast to his convictions, even in the face of withering opposition. Students of Meighen’s life will recognise that this courage was the main reason his times in office were regretfully brief; if he had been willing to back down, confuse the issues, and refuse to take a firm stand (a tactic which his nemesis, WIlliam Lyon Mackenzie King, honed to a degree of perfection), perhaps he would have met with more success at the polls. Alas, that was not in his temperment; Meighen, in his own words, was to remain “unrevised and unrepented” until the end.

One certainly does not see this attitude in today’s political leaders, who seem to be more concerned with following public opinion, rather than leading it. They would certainly not commit to taking an unpopular course; rather, today’s leaders have shown repeatedly that they would rather mask their true intentions, and then take an unpopular course anyway. What is needed is a leader who will commit to taking the neccessary route, and then devote their energy towards showing the public why it is neccessary and ultimately beneficial. That is what Arthur Meighen would do, and that sort of fortitude is absent from politics these days.

What does this have to do with the name of this blog? “The Helm in Safe Hands” was the title of a political cartoon from the 1920’s, depciting Meighen as a fearless captain of the ship of state. I chose it as reminder that for one moment, one brief, shining moment, Canada was possessed of a leader who had the brilliance and courage to do truly great things for our state.